Last updated on August 25, 2020
Question:
Why is it that whenever someone talks to me about body hair, I generally get an erection? I also usually get an erection when I work out, too. The calculator says I’m in stage 4.8.
Answer:
Erections are still relatively new to your body even though you have been having them for a while. An erection occurs when small muscle clamps down on a vein deep within your groin at the base of your penis. This slows the blood from exiting the penis. At the same time your heart rate steps up causing, among other things, the blood to enter the penis faster. The result is that the penis inflates much like a balloon.
If you think about it, the conditions are very similar when you work out. The workout causes your blood pressure to increase as your heart pumps faster and you are tensing as you do the workouts which leads to the muscle at the base of your penis to tense as well. As you get older, your brain will get more sophisticated and be able to tense muscles without causing all muscles to tense; thus, the problem of erections during workouts will decrease.
Your brain is also able to trigger arousal and erections. The brain works through associations. You probably notice this when some says some phrase and you suddenly realize that that reminds you of something else — even though the two items might be only loosely connected. Whenever your brain learns something new, it builds a whole bunch of potential associations and then trims off the useless branches over time. The associations are formed when you sleep and that is why your dreams can often be so wild. You are “seeing” the various thoughts being connected so you can retrieve them later.
Since many people see body hair as being connected to maturity and virility, it isn’t that surprising that your brain made a connection between thoughts of body hair and sexual arousal. As you get older, your brain will refine its response. Likely, you will eventually get to the point of thinking that body hair is no big deal and the associated response by your brain will fade.